Another re-finding the joy of riding- Is the bike suitable?
alexh1981
Posts: 34
Hi all, nice web site!
After about ten years off the saddle i`m finally making an effort to getting back on a bike and loving it. I`ve put myself together a bit of an odd-job bike with a mix of bits i`ve cobbled together at a pretty low cost, (you would be amazed) and i wondered what people think might be a good upgrade for the type of stuff i`m doing- more on that in a sec.
First off i`m no stranger to bikes as i spent my youth racing bmx's between the age of 8 till about 14, (I wasnt the best nor worst, and i can remember watching scott beaumont ride quite a few times, he was pretty handy on a bike) after that it kind of died a death as i`ve been ruining my body playing football since...
Cutting a long story short, my trusty 13 year old diamond back MTB got dusted off and i came back beaming. But it was like riding a dinosaur so it had to go..
I've since put together a new bike as specced below and i`ve been doing a few trails around my local forest (wyre), up to the malverns, eastnor castle, mainly XC stuff and i`m struggling with the uphill bits. Ii`ve also been to Ribbesford DH track on a couple of occasions for a good bit of re learning the skills i`ve so obviously lost (also i`m a bit worried about jumping things, i never was as a kid, maybe thats something thats will come back given time?)
I`d not realised what i have around me, i have the wyre forst and ribbesford within ten mins drive, and kinver DH within 25 mins!
anyway i`m loving it and i`m off bike shopping for the wife on saturday, possibly looking at a giant terrago disc or equivalent for her- and possibly a trailer for the little one on weekend firetrack use.
Anyway, the bike- i`d appreciate comments on what to improve.
I basically took one written off giant terrago, took the gears, mech's, crank and hydro mph brakes from it and added it to a GT Chucker frame, front forks are some quake oil/air affair with possibly not much over 100mm travel, nice a smooth though but getting on a bit in terms of technology. Wheels i cant remember the brand of hubs but the rims are alex and seem quite strong (spare wheels from the terrago are shod with semi slicks for some commuting when i can be bothered), tyres are a substantial nobbly wide continetal on the front and a maxxis beastyily wide thing on the rear- they dont seem too happy on loose gravel but love slightly moist earth.
I like the bike, i feel pretty comfortable on it, but is that becuase i dont know any better? It goes/ stops and i can keep up with our work bunch of riders(downhill anyway- fitness is not at their standard) who ride on much more expensive machinery. My only gripe is thats its a tad heavy, so maybe a new frame, lighter seat post crank and BB wouldnt be a bad idea?
i`m sticking to HT bikes though, i feel i'll be a better rider for it after watching a few FS riders happily hammering theri rears away. I fully appreaciate its not built for the downhill tracks, but hell i`m used to a bmx so DH bikes look way OTT for what i`m capable of on a DH track.
Confidence is slowly coming back; on our latest trail to the clent hills there was a pretty large tree fallen across the trail, everyone stopped to negotiate it but in a split second crazy decision I decided i could 'have it' with a decent bunny hop at the speed i was going at. That felt great, although i nearly took one of our group out who wasnt expecting it.
:twisted:
i`ve come a cropper three times so far, twice luckliy into hawthorns, ferns and a tree that stopped me falling a long way down the malverns- and another very painful (mentally and physically) wipeout coming onto a path from a grassy verge- long grass hid a drainage ditch- mucho embarrssing!
Anyway i`d appreciate if people think i should maybe start over with another bike, the cycle to work scheme thing is on again and i`m sure i could get the parts i need to build something half decent- just spending £500+ isnt high on the agenda when i`m just starting out again.
Alex
After about ten years off the saddle i`m finally making an effort to getting back on a bike and loving it. I`ve put myself together a bit of an odd-job bike with a mix of bits i`ve cobbled together at a pretty low cost, (you would be amazed) and i wondered what people think might be a good upgrade for the type of stuff i`m doing- more on that in a sec.
First off i`m no stranger to bikes as i spent my youth racing bmx's between the age of 8 till about 14, (I wasnt the best nor worst, and i can remember watching scott beaumont ride quite a few times, he was pretty handy on a bike) after that it kind of died a death as i`ve been ruining my body playing football since...
Cutting a long story short, my trusty 13 year old diamond back MTB got dusted off and i came back beaming. But it was like riding a dinosaur so it had to go..
I've since put together a new bike as specced below and i`ve been doing a few trails around my local forest (wyre), up to the malverns, eastnor castle, mainly XC stuff and i`m struggling with the uphill bits. Ii`ve also been to Ribbesford DH track on a couple of occasions for a good bit of re learning the skills i`ve so obviously lost (also i`m a bit worried about jumping things, i never was as a kid, maybe thats something thats will come back given time?)
I`d not realised what i have around me, i have the wyre forst and ribbesford within ten mins drive, and kinver DH within 25 mins!
anyway i`m loving it and i`m off bike shopping for the wife on saturday, possibly looking at a giant terrago disc or equivalent for her- and possibly a trailer for the little one on weekend firetrack use.
Anyway, the bike- i`d appreciate comments on what to improve.
I basically took one written off giant terrago, took the gears, mech's, crank and hydro mph brakes from it and added it to a GT Chucker frame, front forks are some quake oil/air affair with possibly not much over 100mm travel, nice a smooth though but getting on a bit in terms of technology. Wheels i cant remember the brand of hubs but the rims are alex and seem quite strong (spare wheels from the terrago are shod with semi slicks for some commuting when i can be bothered), tyres are a substantial nobbly wide continetal on the front and a maxxis beastyily wide thing on the rear- they dont seem too happy on loose gravel but love slightly moist earth.
I like the bike, i feel pretty comfortable on it, but is that becuase i dont know any better? It goes/ stops and i can keep up with our work bunch of riders(downhill anyway- fitness is not at their standard) who ride on much more expensive machinery. My only gripe is thats its a tad heavy, so maybe a new frame, lighter seat post crank and BB wouldnt be a bad idea?
i`m sticking to HT bikes though, i feel i'll be a better rider for it after watching a few FS riders happily hammering theri rears away. I fully appreaciate its not built for the downhill tracks, but hell i`m used to a bmx so DH bikes look way OTT for what i`m capable of on a DH track.
Confidence is slowly coming back; on our latest trail to the clent hills there was a pretty large tree fallen across the trail, everyone stopped to negotiate it but in a split second crazy decision I decided i could 'have it' with a decent bunny hop at the speed i was going at. That felt great, although i nearly took one of our group out who wasnt expecting it.
:twisted:
i`ve come a cropper three times so far, twice luckliy into hawthorns, ferns and a tree that stopped me falling a long way down the malverns- and another very painful (mentally and physically) wipeout coming onto a path from a grassy verge- long grass hid a drainage ditch- mucho embarrssing!
Anyway i`d appreciate if people think i should maybe start over with another bike, the cycle to work scheme thing is on again and i`m sure i could get the parts i need to build something half decent- just spending £500+ isnt high on the agenda when i`m just starting out again.
Alex
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